Dear Reader,

This epistolary novel lends itself to baking from the title alone.  Created on an occupied Channel Island during WWII with “scant butter, less flour, and no sugar to spare” the recipe for potato peel pie, as listed in the book, is simply “mashed potatoes for filling, strained beets for sweetness, and potato peelings for crust.”

In keeping this pie as true to the book as possible, while making a few small allowances for a palate not currently under German occupation whose greatest suffering while baking was that the thermostat was set a little low so the kitchen was a bit chilly, the ingredients were one potato, one beet, and a bit of salt, milk, and butter.

The result was exceptionally pink and perfectly delicious. Like hot pink mashed potatoes, which is all it is, really. It takes so little to make simple ingredients, like a potato, taste good, and it is so easy to take them for granted when we have them. 

The titular potato peel pie is demonstrative of what the back of the book’s Questions and Topics for Discussion calls “remarkable stamina”; a peoples ability to take the very little they have and make the very most of it.  Symbolically the pie, but more principally the book club that it was eaten during, is how these characters survived the worst time of their lives, and put themselves back together when the worst was over.

A book worth reading, and a ‘pie’ worth baking.

Yours,

Lauren

Potato Peel Pie Recipe

Makes two mini pies.

Ingredients:

1 potato

1 beet

1 ½ “scant” tablespoons butter

Splash of milk

Salt

Olive oil

Preheat oven to 375.

Peel and quarter the potato and beet.

Toss the potato peels with a little oil. Arrange in your pie tin to be the “crust.”

The peels will shrivel up when they cook, so add more than it looks like you need. Bake for 15 minutes.

Add the potato and beet to a pot of cold salted water and bring to a boil. Cook for about 15 minutes. When you can stick a fork through them with ease, remove from the water.

With a fork, mash the potatoes and beets, adding butter, a splash of milk, and salt to taste.

Once satisfactorily mashed, add to your pie tin and bake for 15 minutes.

Enjoy while extolling the virtues of Charles Lamb to your pen pal.